Cylinder five is not functioning correctly?

Tiny
BILL KIRKENDALL
  • MEMBER
  • 1997 FORD E-SERIES VAN
  • 5.4L
  • V8
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 180,000 MILES
Have a 97 Ford Econoline E350 5.4L. It is making a ticking sound as if one of the coil packs is failing. I removed the wiring harnesses going to the coil packs, one at a time. Same with the fuel injector harnesses also. After that test cylinder five was the only cylinder that did not make any difference if the harnesses were on or off. May code reader is reading no apparent codes stored on the obd. I have 12 V at the fuel injector. I have taken the injector off and applied 12 V to it manually. It does engage and opens freely. I have removed the coil pack and spark plug and had the spark plug up against the engine why I was trying to fire it up and it is getting spark. I have also switched out the number five coil pack, spark plug and fuel injector with number sixes spark plug coil, pack and injector and no difference number five is still failing (doesn’t make a difference if the harnesses are on or off for cylinder 5 coil pack and injector). I have removed the valve cover. (It is a three-valve triton engine) all three valves seem to be moving in and out freely. I have pulled the rockers off all three valves and inspected all three rockers. All three rockers wheels are moving freely, no flat spots. Not sure how or what to check for next. Please advise.
Saturday, June 14th, 2025 AT 3:47 PM

2 Replies

Tiny
AL514
  • MECHANIC
  • 5,314 POSTS
Hello, does the ticking noise go away with the coil unplugged for that cylinder, or is this a mechanical type of noise? Basically, with your unplugging the coil and injector you're doing a power balance test, which is the correct thing to do, along with swapping out to a different cylinder. But you didn't even get any codes with the coil unplugged? That should have set a cylinder 5 code for something, either misfire or some kind of circuit code. You can use a test light hooked to B+, to see if you're getting a trigger signal for the injector, with it plugged in, back probe the control wire on injector, and you should see a dim pulse on the test light as the PCM controls the ground side of the circuit.
If the ticking sound doesn't disappear with the coil and injector unplugged, I would check the cylinder for a mechanical fault, ie, compression test, leak down test, etc. It might be an issue with a lifter (Tappet), can you take a short video with your phone and post it here so we can hear the noise?
Also, I'm not sure what scan tool you have, but if there's an option to look at Mode 6 data, in Mode 6 there should be recorded misfire data for each cylinder.

Here's a guide for testing injector control:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-a-fuel-injector
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Sunday, June 15th, 2025 AT 10:24 AM
Tiny
AL514
  • MECHANIC
  • 5,314 POSTS
The diagram below was in service info for this vehicle, which was just listed as "Noise". But here is one of our guides to engine noises as well:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-noises
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Sunday, June 15th, 2025 AT 10:28 AM

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